At this age, every business -no matter how big or small- needs a website to get noticed by the people they want to reach. That being said, not everyone is a web developer, and although not rocket science, building a website can be a bit painful for the uninitiated. Luckily, you don’t have to be a coder to build a website anymore, nor do you have to have any kind of experience with web technologies, thanks to website builders! But what is a website builder exactly? How does it work, and with countless products out there, which one should you trust your site with? In this article, we will be answering these questions, along with some others!
Read on to find out more about this stress-free way of building a quality website, and learn how to pick the one that is the best for your interest!
2023 Top Website Builders
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What is a Website Builder?
As the name makes it quite clear, a website builder is a platform/software that makes the process of building a professional website easier for users- especially for users without prior experience with web technologies. With website builders, basically, anyone can build a professional website, without hiring a web designer.
The main idea of a website builder is to remove the necessity of coding and other complex technicalities from the process and replace it with easy-to-manage actions like drag-and-drop so the users with no experience can easily design a good-looking and functional website in a relatively short amount of time.
How Do Website Builders Work?
Basically, a website builder converts the users’ simple actions -such as drag-and-drop- to code. (Yes, coding is never irrelevant!) Most modern website builders offer a series of templates suitable for different kinds of websites, so users can preview them and decide what kind of look and functionality they want for their website. After picking a template, users will be able to customize almost every detail of their website -such as menus, font types, images, post formats, forms- with the tools the website builder provides, and in the background, the builder converts these changes into code.
Website Builder Features
As we have previously stated, a website builder’s job is to make normally complex things as simple as possible for inexperienced users so they can have a cool, seamless website working like a clock. To do this, website builders provide a series of features that help the process, such as the following (these might change depending on the website builder);
- Drag-and-drop interface – so the users can easily drag and drop the components that will make up their website
- Hosting & domain names – some website builders provide these as well, to help users’ sites get online, although they can be purchased from other parties too
- Third-party integrations
- SEO tools to boost Google rankings
- Mobile compatibility
There are different types of website builders on the market (some of which will be mentioned shortly) and these features will differ from provider to provider, so we advise users to consider a number of different providers and their offerings before making a final decision.
Types of Website Builders
There are a lot of different website builders on the market today, appealing to different users. Two main types of website builders are;
Offline Website Builders
With these builders, you don’t need an internet connection to work on your new website. You just download and install them on your computer, and start working on the website design. Once you are finished, all you have to do is to upload the website to your host.
Online Website Builders
These are web-based website builders that run on the provider’s site. You usually don’t need to download any kind of software to work with these providers, as they work online and all you need is a basic web browser to start designing a website.
Besides the online/offline distinction, website builders can also be categorized as drag-and-drop builders and content management systems:
Drag-and-drop Website Builders
As the name suggests, drag-and-drop website builders are easy-to-use platforms that provide you with a list of templates that you can choose from, and let you customize your site on that template according to your preferences. They are preferred by many users, as they are usually affordable and not complicated, so even the most inexperienced people can make beautiful websites in a relatively short amount of time. On the other hand, drag-and-drop website builders place certain limitations on the users, so if you are really detail-oriented, these might not be the best option for you.
Content Management Systems (CMS)
Content management systems are possibly the most popular website-building tools in the market today. You have probably heard of WordPress, a content management system preferred by nearly half of the websites on the internet today. Some of the other popular CMSs are Drupal, Weebly and Joomla. Although they can still be used with no prior web-building experience, CMSs can be slightly more difficult to master when compared to other website builders, but they compensate for it but being highly customizable.
Smart Website Builders
AI is not the technology of the future anymore, but more like the technology of our days! AI-powered smart website builders put a questionnaire in front of the users to get some basic information about what type of website they want, then automatically generate the website based on that input! They are as easy to use as drag-and-drop website builders and they offer very satisfying results.
How to Choose a Website Builder
As we have mentioned before, there are a lot of website builders out there; online builders, offline builders, free builders, premium builders, and so on… So which website builder should you choose? That is a very good question, and the answer depends on a number of important factors:
- Budget – If you are tight on budget, you may want to consider low price options, even free website builders. Of course, free builders won’t give you much flexibility, but if they do the job, why would you want to pay extra money? Have a look at Weebly review for free options.
- Ease of use – Some website builders are more complex than others. If you have no prior experience with web technologies, you may want to start with the easiest ones- especially if you want to build a simple site. But still, if you want more options, you can always tackle complex solutions.
- Mobile compatibility – Mobile is the new king, as it has passed desktop long, long ago. In other words, having a mobile-friendly website is no longer an option, it is a necessity! So, if a website builder is not mobile-compatible, just leave it!
- Customizability – Highly-customizable site builders give users more options, which means you can build the website in your dreams exactly as it is in your dreams! If you like details and know exactly what you want, you should pick a highly customizable site builder.
Well-known 3 Website Builders
It is difficult to just pick three website builders among all the quality providers out there, but we have managed to find the ones that -in our opinion- offer the best experience, especially to beginners. Here are the top 3 website builders:
1- WordPress
The most popular content management system and website builder in the industry, WordPress powers around 43% of the internet (as they claim) and the number is no doubt increasing. Countless templates, helpful plugins, easy-to-use interface, excellent support, and more… WordPress has everything to help you build the professional website you need.
2- GoDaddy
Known mainly as a domain and hosting service, GoDaddy also offers a smart website builder that requires literally zero technical skills to make great-looking sites. Just answer a few questions, and the site builder will create a website ready for you to customize the way you want it. Although there are not as many design options as some of its competitors, GoDaddy website builder offers several very professional-looking templates that you can choose from.
3- Weebly
Comes at low costs, very flexible, easy-to-use and produces great results! If you need to know more, Weebly -a hugely popular name in the industry- has a very powerful drag-and-drop editor that people with no experience will easily get used to, and it has a range of well-performing e-mail and social media marketing tools, to help you build an audience!
Website Builder Prices
As is the case with other web services, website builder prices vary based on a lot of factors, and there are quite a lot of free builders out there as well. The website builder prices can range from around $10 monthly to as much as over $50 monthly in 2023.
Website Builder F.A.Q
Here are some of the common questions about website builders:
Q: Can I still code on website builders?
A: Yes! Though the point of website builders is to remove the necessity of writing code, most builders let you do that, if you know what you are doing and want to fine-tune your site with code.
Q: Can I build an online store with a website builder?
A: Definitely! There are e-commerce website builders, as well as e-commerce addons for standard website builders that will make it easy for you.
Q: Is SEO easier with website builders?
A: Search engine optimization encompasses a range of modifications to content, code, links, images, and other elements of a website, so it is not just a design thing. But, website builders do provide a series of SEO tools to guide users through the SEO process, which means SEO should be relatively easier with these platforms.
Conclusion
We are living in the digital age and if you don’t have a good-looking and well-performing website, you will lose customers, no matter what you do. We encourage users of all levels to build their sites using website builders- but mainly beginners with no prior experience, for the following reasons:
- Saves a considerable amount of time,
- Budget-friendly- when compared to hiring a professional,
- A lot easier to do,
- Easy to update & maintain on a regular basis,
- More secure!
So, if you want to build a strong online presence, take the first step by deciding on the best website builder for you, and get your site online as soon as possible!